Star Trek X5
by Prvt. Caboose
Summary: I never liked the ending of Nemesis. It didn't really make sense to me as why nobody in the waiting Federation fleet noticed the disapperance of Enterprise. This is what I imagine would happen, if my own character noticed. Old story, may contain errors.


Captain Picard had a bad feeling about this, as he and Lieutenant-Commander Data watched a tactical display in astrometry. Currently, the _Enterprise_-E was en-route to the Neutral Zone, coming from Romulus, and most likely followed by the Reman Warbird _Scimitar_. But at the moment, all was well. The _Enterprise_ was heading for a waiting Federation fleet on the other side of the Neutral Zone. But something just wasn't right. A few seconds later, the Captain of the Federation flagship knew, what was bothering him. The display sputtered with static and switched off. Of course, Data was ready to explain: "That's normal, Captain. The Breach disrupts every form of long range sensors and communications." Both officers realised, what this meant. "Picard to Riker. Take evasive action!" In the same instant, the ship rocked under multiple disruptor hits and fell under warp. Praetor Shinzon had tricked them with the oldest one in the book. But the main reason for Picard's bad mood was that Starfleet didn't know about the situation. The cavalry wouldn't come.

At the same time, every crewmember on the bridge of USS _Bismarck_, which was a part of the waiting fleet stared at the captain. He was snoring. And if someone was snoring, he was normally sleeping. As was he. The main viewer showed the same map as the astrometry of the _Enterprise_. Without warning, the green blip labeled "NCC-1701-E, USS _Enterprise_" vanished. Captain James Azzameen woke up immediately. "What happened? Why did we loose contact with the _Enterprise_? Number One?" Commander T'Sel, currently at the science station, glanced at the sensor readings. "The _Enterprise_ has reached a region of space known as the 'Breach'. Local anomalies make long range sensors and communications useless." "Why didn't you say so before?!" asked Jim the Vulcan furiously and stood up. "Set a course for the Breach, maximum warp. All hands, battle stations!" He made a sloppy gesture with his right hand. "That way!" Lieutenant Maraike Messerschmitt manoeuvred the _Sovereign_-Class starship around Admiral Janeway's flagship, the _Voyager_, and engaged the warp drive. Only one moment later, the tactical station beeped and Lieutenant-Commander HovSuvwI', the female Klingon security chief, growled deeply in her throat. "Captain, the _Voyager _orders us to come back at once." "She can bite our red hot glowing warp coils!" snapped the captain. "But only, if she's fast enough to catch us. Which she isn't!" With a speed of warp 9.985, the _Bismarck_ flew past Romulan Warbirds, guarding the border, toward the point, where the _Enterprise_ had entered the Breach. A few minutes later, the _Bismarck_ reached that damned region of space, too, and slowed down to impulse power. The main viewer sputtered a few seconds, and switched to an image of the _Enterprise_, getting shot at by a cloaked ship. That remembered Jim of the last cruise of the _Enterprise_-A, where she was attacked by a Klingon Bird of Prey that was able to fire while being cloaked. And James Azzameen knew exactly, how to beat such cowards. The answer was not in modern technology, but in what you could call "visual scanning". But you can call it "look around", too. "Captain," T'Sel reported calmly, "The shields of the _Enterprise_ are down to 20%." HovSuvwI' growled: "In range!" "Target the muzzle flash! Quantum torpedoes, full spread! Fire!" A volley of four blue glowing quantum torpedoes flew towards empty space behind the _Enterprise_… and detonated on the powerful shields of the Reman Warbird _Scimitar_. "All phasers, all launchers, fire at will! Helm, evasive maneuvers without pattern!" The phaser banks sent long beams of orange energy through space, searching for the cloaked Warbird. Everytime the phasers hit something, HovSuvwI' fired quantum torpedoes in the direction. Only about every third shot was a hit, but hitting a flying, cloaked ship was just a little bit difficult. And of course, the Reman returned fire. Despite of Maraike's excellent evasive maneuvers, the _Bismarck_ was hit from time to time. Okay, she was hit several times. Lieutenant Ateel Singha, the Bajoran Ops officer, hated the message on her display. "Shields down to 80%!" The ship shuddered under another hit and the captain was glad about the archaic seatbelts, he had the engineer to install them in every single seat. "Transfer warp energy directly into phasers and shields!" HovSuvwI' had trouble remaining in her standing position, but her Klingon pride didn't allow her to fall down. "Captain, the _Enterprise_ orders us to prepare a full spread and wait for the signal. They underlined 'full spread'." Jim arched his eyebrows. "Jean-Luc, I honestly hope, you have got a plan. Load the forward launcher with its maximum load, and stand by on main phasers." Another hit rocked the _Bismarck_. "Shields down to 60%!" reported Ateel. "Sir, _Enterprise_ firing!" Indeed, three projectiles that looked exactly like Tri-Cobalt-Capsules, left the other Federation starship and scored three direct hits on the enemy. Azzameen sat up straight and gripped his seat. "Target the shield impacts and fire!" Four long phaser blasts and twelve quantum torpedoes teared away the weakened primary shields of the _Scimitar_ and the Warbird had to decloak. "Good shot, HovSuvwI'!" The captain's good mood was blown away, as the Reman hit the Bridge of the _Enterprise_ at point-blank-range. Even at this distance, he could see the hull breach. T'Sel stared at her screens. "Shields gone, torpedoes depleted, phasers at 4%, hull integrity at 80%." "Take every watt you can find and stuff it in the phasers! I want to see this Reman coward blown to pieces!" The whining sound of loading and firing phasers got louder, and the light was dimmed. "Move into attack position, double energy to front shields!" The young woman at the helm let the _Bismarck_ spin around and flew directly towards the enemy. "I need a full spread, fore and aft! Wait for my mark. Until then, only sporadic phaser fire, they shall think we have problems." The console on the lefthand side behind the captain spat sparks, and the shields dropped to 40%. "Well, it's not far away from the truth." 500 meters from the Warbird, Azzameen raised his voice. "Mark!" For the second time, the forward quantum torpedo launcher released a dozen torpedoes that mangled the _Scimitar_'s secondary shields. HovSuvwI' switched the shields, to protect the _Bismarck_ during the fly-by. At the same instant, the Warbird was behind the _Bismarck_, the two aft launchers fired 24 quantum torpedoes into the belly of the larger vessel. Shields were penetrated, disruptor banks exploded, hull armour dissolved, and plasma torpedo launcher malfunctioned. The damage to the _Bismarck_ was not much smaller. "Shields down to 5%! Warp drive offline!" Alarm claxons sounded off and T'Sel had to raise her voice considerably. "Captain, the Warbird is splitting its wings. According to the sensor readings, they are charging a Taleron generator. Seven minutes until they're ready to fire." "Taleron?" the captain asked perplexed. Taleron radiation was extremely dangerous, as it dissolved living matter within seconds. HovSuvwI' tapped her console madly and T'Sel continued her lecture. "Taleron generators are very vulnerable. A direct hit would neutralize the _Scimitar_ completely. Only a direct hit will neutralize the Warbird." Azzameen snorted. "Too bad I forgot my X-wing squadron in my other uniform. Any ideas, how we can find that generator?" The tall Klingon woman behind him grinned broadly. "I'm already on it. Some technicians are refitting a torpedo with a Taleron scanner. Should be ready within two minutes." "You have one. Blast his remaining shields with the phasers, while preparing the torpedo." "Aye, captain." Again, orange energy beams connected both ships, and the _Bismarck_ was hit by a Reman plasma torpedo that punched through the weak shields and hit the portside of the primary hull. The ship rocked heavily and HovSuvwI' lost her strong grip and fell to the floor. While she pulled herself back up, Lieutenant Ateel read the damage report. "Shields down! Hull breach, decks nine to twelve. Phasers offline!" "HovSuvwI', where's that damned torpedo?" She quickly read her displays. "Locked and loaded!" In a foolish act, captain Azzameen released his seatbelt, stood up, and raised his fist. "Fire!" A single quantum torpedo emerged from the forward launcher, searched the surface of the _Scimitar_ for the Taleron generator, punched through the remaining shields, and hit the bridge. In a spectacular explosion, the "super weapon" of the Romulan Empire dissolved into molecules. "Stand down from Red Alert. Message to the _Enterprise_: 'Will gladly send medical and technical personnel. Captain James Azzameen, USS _Bismarck_, NCC-78374'." Something still bothered him. Namely _Voyager_'s order. Jim had disobeyed a direct order. He had a bad feeling about this…

Days later, the _Bismarck_ and the _Enterprise_ were next-door-neighbours in the dry dock. Both ships looked, as if they were only halfway assembled: dismantled hull plates, phaser banks, warp coils, and ramm-scoops. The truth was that the damaged systems had been removed, but had not been replaced, yet. In his quarters, Captain Jean-Luc Picard looked out of his window and watched the ongoing repairs of USS _Bismarck_, a cup of tea, Earl Grey, hot, in front of him. His colleague and friend had disobeyed an order to save him. For this, he could face being courtmartialed. Jean-Luc ignored his favourite tea and stormed out of his quarters. It was time to pull some strings.

Location: Earth, Starfleet Command, Admiral Janeway's office.

Captain James Azzameen stood tall and motionless, ready to face the worst, while Admiral Janeway read a PADD and sipped at a cup of coffee, black and of course it was hot (who likes cold coffee?). At some point, she looked up. "You know, what this is?" Jim glanced at the small computer. Under normal circumstances, he would have said "no", but he knew Kathryn Janeway since Starfleet Academy. So he chose "Azzameen's Snappy Answer Number Five". "That is called a PADD. Children in the Federation learn that at the age of one." Janeway smirked. "It is a report of Captain Picard. He praises your well-planned actions in a high manner. Without your help, the _Enterprise_ may have been destroyed. I must admit that this has happened before, but it was close this time. Too close for Jean-Luc's taste. Plus, he wrote I'd be a complete idiot, if I had let you face a courtmartial." Azzameen blinked and wanted to say something, but the Admiral didn't let him. "And as I have given the order for the _Enterprise_ to fly to Romulus in the first place, the destruction of said the ship would have been my fault. So I have to thank you for undoing my mistake. Why don't we just call it an even match and go home?" Jim smiled in a relaxed manner. "Sounds like a deal." "One thing, Captain." Azzameen didn't like the sound of it. "Why does that report of yours sound like a history lesson?" "Because it was history. I used tactics and tricks invented by Captains Kirk and Sulu. Well, it was almost the same situation, only with Remans instead of Klingons." Admiral Janeway nodded and finished her coffee. "Funny, how history repeats itself." "Yeah. But I hope, nobody makes a movie about it. Or worse, writing a short story because he doesn't like the expensive motion picture!"

Too late.

Good Morning, Captain.


End file.
